Google settles $7b consumer privacy lawsuit

The news: Search giant Google has agreed to settle a lawsuit in a US district court which alleged it secretly tracked the internet use of millions of people who thought they were browsing privately.

The numbers: The lawsuit had sought at least USD5 billion ($7.3 billion) to cover millions of Google users since June 1, 2016, with at least USD5,000 in damages per user for violations of US federal wire-tapping and California privacy laws. Settlement terms were not disclosed, but lawyers said they agreed to a binding term sheet through mediation.

The context: Court approval for a formal settlement is likely to be sought by 24 February. The preliminary agreement allowed a US District Judge in Oakland, California, to put a scheduled February trial in the proposed action on hold. The plaintiffs are a group of consumers who alleged that Google's analytics, cookies and apps let the search giant track their activity even when they set the Chrome browser to "Incognito" mode and other browsers to "private" browsing mode. The judge had earlier rejected Google's bid to dismiss the 2020 lawsuit, citing its privacy policy and other statements that suggested limits on what information it might collect. The settlement comes close on the heels of Google losing an antitrust case brought by Fortnite maker Epic Games and another $1 billion settlement over holding back competition in its Google Play app store.